October 28th, 2009

(See below for many photos from Hoops Mania and the Annual Blue-White Scrimmage)

Hoops Mania The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

By Chris Fujimoto

Villanova fans got their first look at the new 2009-2010 Wildcats and came away with mixed reactions. Everything that should have been included in Hoops Mania was included, such as the presentation of the Final Four rings. Honoring past Wildcat basketball teams was a nice touch, especially with a veteran of the 1939 Final Four team being honored along with numerous athletes from the 1971 and 1985 teams.

The Dunk Contest featured Scottie Reynolds proving that he can dunk as well as rookie Isaiah Armwood who dunked by jumping over the head of Jay Wright. However, the contest featured many missed dunks – although that’s what you have to tolerate in order to attempt the most ridiculous and difficult dunks.

The performer was Trey Songz, who sang some songs, but overall did not really energize the crowd as a whole and was simply not a very special performer, but neither was Mims or T-Pain. Or perhaps some of us were just spoiled by 50 Cents’ appearance at Hoops Mania three years ago.

After the Homecoming football game on Saturday, the basketball team invited fans to the annual Blue-White scrimmage – a longer version of what took place at Hoops Mania with two twenty minute halves and a running clock. The Blue Team beat the White Team after a two-minute overtime period after being tied 62-62 in regulation. Reynolds led the Blue Team with 26 points. Sophomore Taylor King had 18 points for the Blue Team and Maalik Wayns chipped in 10 points. Antonio Pena added 8 points, including a strong showing on the boards with 10 rebounds.

On the White Team, Corey Stokes and Dominic Cheek led the way with 23 points and 19 points respectively. Mouphtaou Yarou contributed 9 points, with Corey Fisher and Armwood each having 7 points apiece. Villanova next plays in an exhibition game against Kutztown on November 5th at the Wachovia Center and play Farleigh Dickinson at the Pavilion on November 13th.

The following is a recap of Hoops Mania and the season’s outlook from a strictly basketball point of view. Although this Hoops Mania was much improved over the past few years, there is always room for constructive criticism. Everything good about Hoops Mania is categorized as a swish and all the negatives are categorized as bricks.

Swish:

The Pace:

For the majority of the scrimmage, the new look Wildcats played at a really torrid pace that looked closer to John Calipari’s dribble-drive motion offense than Jay Wright’s 4-out 1-in motion offense. They looked like a team that could really move the ball, and they definitely have the depth to push that pace for a full forty minutes. The two points, Fisher and Maalik Wayns, looked like exceptional floor generals out there who could direct the offense. The team also has very athletic bigs who can move the floor. Armwood, Pena, and Yarou all appear to have the stamina to sustain a fast moving pace.

The Point Guards:

As stated before the floor generals Fisher and Wayns performed exceptionally well. Fisher took huge strides last season and used the summer to springboard to a promising 2009-2010 year. The real surprise was Wayns, who was a highly touted recruit but showed flashes of brilliance during the scrimmage. Along with Scottie Reynolds, Maalik Wayns helped lead the blue team to victory during Saturday night’s scrimmage. With these two at the helm the team should be in good hands for this season.

Scottie Reynolds:

Reynolds is poised for a huge season and showed that he is going to take his game to a new level in his final season as a Wildcat. Reynolds’ ability to create his own shot and attack the rim seems to be just as good, and he can flawlessly switch between outside shots and attacking the rim. After scoring 26 points during the Blue-White scrimmage it appears that the dynamic Reynolds is hungry for a great season. His shot selection still is a little iffy but when those shots fall, you can expect a great night from Mr. Clutch.

The Big Men:

Jay Wright loves athletic forwards and he has a collection of five guys that all could be game changers and they showed portions of promise during the scrimmages. Moe Sutton seems to have added some weight to his frame that should make him a strong post presence. He still got pushed around a little in the scrimmage but he definitely could be the size that the Wildcats need down low. Taylor King continued to impress and shows that he has a beautiful stroke and range for shooting threes. If Coach Wright uses the four-guard lineup, however, he would probably see more time as a combo guard/forward but still have the size to guard another team’s forwards.

Yarou and Armwood both showed promise. Mouph is a strong kid and definitely has the ball handling skills to create for himself, while at the same time the size and frame to dominate down low in a Dejuan Blair-esque style. He hasn’t developed his mid range jumper yet, but he seems to like it and you can expect it often during the season. Armwood has the athleticism to play all over the court with the rare ability to get a rebound, run the ball down the court, and finish on the other end.

The wildcard this season will be Antonio Pena. He started off strong last year but lost the starting job and saw limited playing time during the second half and NCAA tournament. With the departure of Dante Cunningham and others, he will need to be the guy down low for the Wildcats this season. At the Hoops Mania scrimmage, Pena’s defense was vastly improved and he had no trouble guarding the elusive Armwood all the way on the perimeter. His offensive game has improved as well. Pena should return to his old form and be a strong veteran leader for the Wildcats.

Bricks:

Shot selection:

It was rough for the first few minutes of the Hoops Mania scrimmage, with neither team hitting any shots. It looked like both sides rushed to take quick three-pointers and none of them were falling. Hopefully this isn’t a reoccurring problem, but it also reaffirmed a hunch that many fans had at the start of the season. With the increased depth of the team, mores shots will be taken - so what happens when the shots aren’t falling? I’m going to chalk this one up to rust, time will tell if this is going to be an ugly trend. Something tells me that Jay Wright is going to get on these guys in practice to emphasize better shots, and they will surely listen.

Turnovers:

Again, the sloppiness is related to the rust and inexperience of playing with each other but there were some pretty bad turnovers; players not looking at passes when they were thrown to them, balls getting hit off hands, throwing to the wrong teammate, all of these can be easily corrected but they were a glaring issue in the scrimmage.

There were a lot of promising things to take away from the first look at the new Wildcats, there were also several issues that need to be addressed in the early going. Early tests playing in Puerto Rico and against Maryland in DC should be an early gauge on what kind of identity the Wildcat will have this season and how much success they will have. They should be strong contenders for the national title if everything starts firing on all cylinders for Jay Wright’s crew.

Photos Courtesy of Lucy Tuttle and Matt Crawford